The greeting culture in Europe is very confusing. When we travel to meet our Spotters, this often leads to (funny) confusion. Should we kiss, hug or shake hands with him/her?

To get an idea of the different greeting customs in our cities, and to avoid issues in the future, we did a bit of research amongst our Spotters. We asked our Spotters in 33 cities two questions:1. How do you greet somebody you’re meeting for the first time, but who’s a friend of a friend? 2. How do you say goodbye to your good friends after a night out?

Actually, after receiving the answers I’m even more confused then I was before. You almost need an instruction manual to find out what to do! In general, you can say that the more South you go, more hugs and kisses than handshakes are exchanged. Other than that, I don’t see the logic…

Below are the answers locals from 8 Northern, Southern and Central European cities gave us.

Brussels:
Female to Male – Friend of friend: One kiss
Female to Female – Friend of friend: One kiss
Female to Male – Good friend: One kiss
Female to Female – Good friend: One kiss
Male to Male – Friend of friend: One kiss
Male to Female – Friend of friend: One kiss
Male to Male – Good friend: One kiss
Male to Female – Good friend: One kiss